This episode film draws quite a realistic picture on life on both sides of the German-Polish border. To the group of Ukrainian, stranded at the polish side of river Oder, the lights of the German town of Frankfurt/Oder promise a new life, wealth and freedom in the West. And nearly impossible to reach, as they cannot hope for asylum there. But life on the other side is also not as easy as it seems. We meet Ingo, who tries to make some money building up a mattress store and fails miserably; Katharina who has fled from the children's home and now makes her living of smuggling cigarettes over the border. On the other side of the river, there's the polish father who tries almost everything to get together the money for his daughter's communion dress; student Beata who works as a translator and also fulfills the more special wishes of her customers, as long as she gets paid. During the film, some of these people's ways cross, some don't, some try to help the others, some betray them, everyone struggles to make the best out of it for himself whether he or she is Polish, German or Ukrainian. One other thing struck my mind: In one scene of the film, Beata meets her German ex-boyfriend; when they start arguing, she shouts at him in Polish. He doesn't understand her and tells her to speak German and she answers: "If you had really loved me, you'd have learned Polish a long time ago!" He just says: "You can't be serious." I found this exemplary for many of the people, especially the Germans, that they don't understand the others, and they don't want to try. The people on the other side of the border, or those connected to it like German-Ukrainian translator Sonya, seem to help each other more, even though they also try to make their own profit by it, sometimes. Maybe this is the difference between the two worlds on the two sides of the river.
Reviews
4 Reviews
Brucio nel vento
(2002)
pessimistic and one-sided eastern european immigrant story
19 September 2002
Tobias grows up as the son of the village whore somewhere in eastern europe. One day he escapes from the dirty village life, changes his name, comes to Switzerland. He finds work in a clock factory and almost goes crazy over the daily routine. The only thing that keeps him alive is the desire for a girl he calls Line, a phantom he has been waiting for his whole life. And one day, she appears, but she is married...
The film is not very optimistic about life in general and immigration in particular. The only interaction between Dalibor (as Tobias calls himself now) and the local people is the two Swiss girls he makes love with. The people from eastern europe (a country is never specified) stay for themselves, celebrate for themselves and hate it to be where they are, they only stay because of the money. Dalibor says one has to accept it, terrible as it is, but you also often her the sentence "I could never get used to it". Several suicides happen and in the end, again, there's only escape for Dalibor.
Maybe the end is meant positive, it's one of the few moments when the sun is shining, the rest of the film only shows rain and snow, but I was not really happy with it. No problems are really solved, or only with violence. Dalibor, the dreamy, sensitive person who passionately writes prose, tends to use knives to solve his problems. I felt uncomfortable with this and I found the way Switzerland and eastern europe immigration are portraited disappointingly one-sided.
I only gave it five out of ten.
The film is not very optimistic about life in general and immigration in particular. The only interaction between Dalibor (as Tobias calls himself now) and the local people is the two Swiss girls he makes love with. The people from eastern europe (a country is never specified) stay for themselves, celebrate for themselves and hate it to be where they are, they only stay because of the money. Dalibor says one has to accept it, terrible as it is, but you also often her the sentence "I could never get used to it". Several suicides happen and in the end, again, there's only escape for Dalibor.
Maybe the end is meant positive, it's one of the few moments when the sun is shining, the rest of the film only shows rain and snow, but I was not really happy with it. No problems are really solved, or only with violence. Dalibor, the dreamy, sensitive person who passionately writes prose, tends to use knives to solve his problems. I felt uncomfortable with this and I found the way Switzerland and eastern europe immigration are portraited disappointingly one-sided.
I only gave it five out of ten.
Mit Ikea nach Moskau
(2001)
Study on Russian Life and on the IKEA Family
24 July 2002
I found this documentation about "pioneer work" in modern Russia really interesting. You can literally feel the excitement when the masses are rushing into the newly opened store, grabbing everything they can and trying to be the first who buys this yellow sofa or that blue chair. Later, we are allowed to take a look into the flats of these people, narrow, low rooms stuffed with huge dark furniture, and we understand just too well the longing for something new, colourful.
The rites of the IKEA family, starting with the blue and yellow sweaters that the employees just seem to wear always, at home as well as at work, and ending with the hymn "We are IKEA, here we come", that is sung to the guitar at the open fire, appear strange and amusing, but there are very sad scenes in the film, as well, like the interview with the old woman who has been waiting for hours in the cold hoping to win a sleeping sofa at the tombola because she does not even have a bed.
Unfortunately, not many people have seen this movie and I believe it was only released in Germany. If you have the chance to watch it and if you have ever bought something at IKEA, watch it!
The rites of the IKEA family, starting with the blue and yellow sweaters that the employees just seem to wear always, at home as well as at work, and ending with the hymn "We are IKEA, here we come", that is sung to the guitar at the open fire, appear strange and amusing, but there are very sad scenes in the film, as well, like the interview with the old woman who has been waiting for hours in the cold hoping to win a sleeping sofa at the tombola because she does not even have a bed.
Unfortunately, not many people have seen this movie and I believe it was only released in Germany. If you have the chance to watch it and if you have ever bought something at IKEA, watch it!
Mondscheintarif
(2001)
Live of young fashionable people in Berlin...
6 October 2001
You want to know how up-to-date people live, the clothes they wear, how there flats look like? Watch "Mondscheintarif" and you will also learn how these people are caught in the rituals of their modern life, their "must"s and "mustn't"s.
"You must never call a man after your first night together! He has to call you!" - Young photographer Cora obeys and almost goes mad waiting. These people, so trendy, so much on top of society, cannot deal with such things as just talking to each other honestly. I find it really sad to think that there might be people who really live all these lies. So watch this movie and learn something about "How-not-to"...
"You must never call a man after your first night together! He has to call you!" - Young photographer Cora obeys and almost goes mad waiting. These people, so trendy, so much on top of society, cannot deal with such things as just talking to each other honestly. I find it really sad to think that there might be people who really live all these lies. So watch this movie and learn something about "How-not-to"...
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